RAMALLAH, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Ministry of Health warned Saturday that a severe medicine shortage is threatening the collapse of the West Bank health system, urging the international community to intervene.
The ministry said a financial crisis is straining government, private, and NGO hospitals, as well as medicine and medical supply vendors, due to accumulated debt and irregular payments.
Hundreds of vital medicines have reached critically low levels, including cancer drugs and dialysis supplies, the ministry said, posing a direct threat to health services.
The crisis has been compounded by reduced working hours and staff strikes, the ministry added.
It called for immediate action to ensure the delivery of medicines and prevent a health system collapse, saying the withholding of Palestinian funds amounts to collective punishment that violates patients' right to treatment.
Israel has withheld portions of clearance revenues -- taxes and customs duties collected by Israel on Palestinian imports under the Oslo Accords -- since 2019, citing payments made by the Palestinian Authority to prisoners and released detainees.
The Palestinian government has approved austerity measures in response, including reducing employee working hours while maintaining essential services. ■
